As the utility of mobile devices has increased, enterprises have deployed large numbers of mobile devices to meet the needs of their organization. The very nature of these mobile devices, the fact that they move around within the organization and in some cases leave the physical bounds of the organization, has led to an increasing number of problems for IT managers charged with supporting the mobile devices. These mobile devices include mobile computers, cordless telephones, cellular telephones, global positioning location systems, two-way radios, inventory devices and the like. The ability to communicate with these mobile devices has provided a level of available support but many problems require more complex analysis and resolution than current device management systems provide.
In another shortcoming of existing device management systems, the user is often the problem detection component of the mobile device for the device management system. In many cases, user behavior is to ignore problems until they become a complete impediment to the operation of the device and the user's ability to complete their daily work. Under these circumstances, problems that could have been resolved relatively easily are allowed to grow into larger issues requiring greater resources to resolve and longer device downtime for the user, thus reducing user productivity.
In another aspect, applications and communications between the mobile devices and the server systems are now complex enough that a coordinated effort between the mobile device and the server is required to resolve the problem. This can require coordination between the mobile device and the device management system on the server with respect to the order of the performance of actions such as one task on the mobile device must be completed before a companion task is run on the server then another task must run on the mobile device. Again, existing device management systems do not perform this coordination of problem repair operations between the mobile device and the device management system running on the server computer.
Further, a problem more difficult to detect is the case where the user adds additional components to the mobile device, removes required components from the device or reconfigures components to a state where they are incompatible with the enterprise network and/or the device management system. Current device management systems typically only validate that a particular component was installed on the mobile device initially, they do not validate that the components are currently completely installed and functioning correctly.
Accordingly, deficiencies in existing device management systems, desired cost savings of support and expected productivity improvements of users have created market demand for a device management system that can automatically detect problems on mobile devices at an early stage, coordinate complex repairs and report the corrective actions.